newspaper work with type on six- or seven-point body, unevenness in spacing is held of but slight importance, but unevenness is not allowed in good book- work from hand composition with large type. In the display lines of title-pages and even of many subheadings, an intelligent discrimination in the selection of spaces is of great importance.
TOO WIDE AND TOO NARROW SPACING
For solid composition in ordinary lower-case letters of standard width the space most used is the three-to-em space. For wide-leaded matter the en quadrat is frequently substituted, and this is wide enough for most open composition. The "pigeonholing" of matter produced by the use of two thick spaces or of em quadrats between words in wide-leaded matter, as is shown in these lines, was once in fashion, but it is now generally disapproved.
Five-to-em- or hair-spacing of lines of text may be passed occasionally in solid composition when ordered on the final revised proof of an author, but it is offensive in leaded matter. It must be tolerated when it prevents the turning over of a syllable in a line of poetry, yet it is unsightly. The hair-spacing of solid composition, sometimes unavoidable in the final correction of hurried proofs, is shown in two lines of this sentence, and may be found in good work, but it is always a misfortune.
